Game 2 of the 2016 NBA Finals takes place Sunday, June 5, starting at 8 p.m. ET at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. Klay Thompson missing eight of his 12 shots while scoring just nine points, but Golden State also received 16 points, 11 boards and seven assists from Draymond Green. The Warriors’ bench rose to the occasion, with Livingston, Leandro Barbosa and Iguodala picking up the slack and Kerr rode them during the turning point in the game, a run that really caught fire after guard Matthew Dellavedova swiped at the ball but hit Iguodala in the groin.
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James has a ideal 9-0 record in game two after his teams have lost the opener of a playoff series, and the Cavaliers will put that to the test Sunday after falling to the defending champion Warriors 104-89 on Thursday.
That’s a formula that should have given LeBron James and Cleveland a big edge in Game 1, but it underscored what I said just two days ago.
Head to head, the Cavs are 1-5 ATS in the last six meetings overall and 3-8 ATS in the last 11 meetings in Golden State.
“Don’t matter what you do with Steph and Klay, don’t matter what you do with Draymond (Green)”, said James, who scored 23 points. And it’s even better than he has such a stellar record in the second game of a series, because if the Cavs get wiped out again in Game 2, the King could forfeit another jewel from his crown. The Warriors focused on Cleveland trying to get him and Channing Frye open, denying the open shot.
Cleveland’s offense had its own problems – in 22 possessions, Andre Iguodala held LeBron James to 1-for-2 shooting – but it’s still a good bet that it’ll course-correct.
“We were in the same situation and felt good about ourselves after game one and they came and snatched victory from us in game two”, Bogut said.
It turns out there is another collection of players who are mostly the same as last year’s Golden State title team: the ones who begin the game on the bench. Didn’t make it happen in the fourth quarter. Curry is also trying to become just the fourth player in National Basketball Association history to win MVPs and championships in the same season in two consecutive years.
James has scored 20 or more points in a career-best 25 straight playoff games, topping his previous mark of 24 in a row from May 12, 2008, to April 25, 2010. The Cavs took the lead last in the 3rd (68-67) and once they rested their starters, the Warriors went on a 15-0 run in the 4rd and 4th quarters to seal the deal. But it wasn’t enough for the Cavs to win Game 1.
The Cavaliers had come back to take the lead in the third quarter, and Curry just couldn’t find the mark. They just couldn’t sustain it.
After the game, James gave the team credit. And then this year, I mean, well, both games they didn’t even have the same coach that they have now.
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On Thursday night, during a press conference before game one of the NBA Finals, league commissioner Adam Silver spoke at length about the state of the NBA.
